Gibson TG-50 With Charlie Christian Pickup Arch Top Hollow Body Electric Tenor Guitar (1940)
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Item #14161
Gibson TG-50 With Charlie Christian Pickup Model Arch Top Hollow Body Electric Tenor Guitar (1940), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 501F-1, sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, maple back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original tweed hard shell case.
This 1940 Gibson is a very interesting if slightly enigmatic early electric tenor guitar, a cool and probably unique pre-WWII 4-string. It looks to have started out as an acoustic TG-50 before being modified VERY early on with the standard Gibson pickup of the era, the long-magnet blade model now universally known as the "Charlie Christian". Gibson did build a tenor version of the ES-150 in limited numbers; this guitar has many of the same features but some differences as well.
This TG-50 has an ink-stamped a Factory Order Number indicating it was built in 1940, by which point tenor guitars were little more than a glorified footnote in Gibson's catalog. The TG-50 is the only archtop tenor listed as a stock model, but not pictured. The acoustic TG-50 was a 4-string version of the L-50, Gibson's best student grade archtop with the same 16" wide carved body but 23" scale 4-string neck. In itself it is a fairly rare instrument, if not a particularly distinguished one. This electrified version is a historical oddity, evidence pointing to the pickup being added soon after it was made. All the electric components are correct for the 1940 time frame; this pickup was discontinued from factory production that same year.
Compared to the stock ETG-150 electric tenor (of which only something like 100 were built) this guitar has plainer cosmetics but one structural advantage, a fully carved back instead of the flat piece on the purpose-built electric. Otherwise the instruments are structurally nearly identical with a carved spruce top, maple back and sides and slim mahogany neck with a light "V" profile. The top and back are single bound; The TG-150 lacks binding on the fingerboard and pickguard which the ETG-150 had. The small headstock has a pearl script Gibson logo and the tuning pegs are early Kluson openback single-unit machines instead of the banjo tuners used on earlier Gibson tenors. The smaller adjustable wooden 4-string bridge and trapeze tailpiece are the same for both models, but this tailpiece lacks the integral jack in the baseplate that was a clever if sometimes awkward feature of the purpose-built electrics.
The pickup is the 4-string model of the famous original "Charlie Christian" bar magnet unit featuring a triple-bound coil edge and staggered blade pieces under the strings. It mounts with three large screws through the top securing the long bar magnets which reach almost to the bridge. The large-can pots and wiring are from the same period. We can't say if this assembly was purchased loose from a Gibson dealer or removed from an ETG-150 tenor guitar or an EM-150 mandolin, but it dates to the same year as the guitar as do the "radio" style knobs. The pickup rout in the top is not as neat as factory work but not too badly done; the mounting screws are factory style but the rear one has a rubber grommet around it rather than a metal washer.
Whatever its history this "ersatz" ETG-150 is a great playing and sounding instrument. Many early electrics from Gibson's competitors in the 1930s have a rather mongrel look; while not a fancy guitar, this TG-50 electric has a beautifully understated elegance. The 6-string ES-150 remains indelibly associated with Charlie Christian; the 4-string variant was most famously used by Tiny Grimes, his contemporary and acolyte in the Harlem jazz scene. Grimes played a 1940 ETG-150 to great effect on many discs of the time. This guitar has that same feel, look and powerful sound, we think it's one of the coolest electric 4-strings we have seen.
Overall length is 38 5/8 in. (98.1 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 22 3/4 in. (578 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/4 in. (32 mm.).
Overall this is a fine playing guitar, showing some typical wear and tear but with no major repair except of course the ancient alteration to electric. These is some general wear to the all-original finish, mostly dings, dents and scrapes overall most notable on the top. There is none of the strum wear to the top or finger wear around the tone and volume knobs that is oddly common on these earliest Gibson electrics. The back of the neck has some finish worn through on the spine and edges from play.
There is an old sealed spruce grain crack repair above the back end of the bass side f-hole that is fairly visible, and another just off the bass side of the fingerboard extension running down to the pickup rout. No other cracks or repairs are visible. The hardware including the period "Charlie Christian" pickup, "radio" style knobs, Kluson tuners, smaller adjustable wooden 4-string bridge and unbound tortoise celluloid pickguard all appear to have been on the guitar since 1940; the pickguard bracket looks later.
The original frets have been crowned down but still play well; the Charlie Christian bar magnet pickup is somewhat noisy (they all are) but has a truly rip-roaring tone. This is a likely genuinely unique instrument, a really fine period electric tenor complete with the original tweed Gibson HSC in moderately worn but fully functional condition. Overall Very Good + Condition.
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This 1940 Gibson is a very interesting if slightly enigmatic early electric tenor guitar, a cool and probably unique pre-WWII 4-string. It looks to have started out as an acoustic TG-50 before being modified VERY early on with the standard Gibson pickup of the era, the long-magnet blade model now universally known as the "Charlie Christian". Gibson did build a tenor version of the ES-150 in limited numbers; this guitar has many of the same features but some differences as well.
This TG-50 has an ink-stamped a Factory Order Number indicating it was built in 1940, by which point tenor guitars were little more than a glorified footnote in Gibson's catalog. The TG-50 is the only archtop tenor listed as a stock model, but not pictured. The acoustic TG-50 was a 4-string version of the L-50, Gibson's best student grade archtop with the same 16" wide carved body but 23" scale 4-string neck. In itself it is a fairly rare instrument, if not a particularly distinguished one. This electrified version is a historical oddity, evidence pointing to the pickup being added soon after it was made. All the electric components are correct for the 1940 time frame; this pickup was discontinued from factory production that same year.
Compared to the stock ETG-150 electric tenor (of which only something like 100 were built) this guitar has plainer cosmetics but one structural advantage, a fully carved back instead of the flat piece on the purpose-built electric. Otherwise the instruments are structurally nearly identical with a carved spruce top, maple back and sides and slim mahogany neck with a light "V" profile. The top and back are single bound; The TG-150 lacks binding on the fingerboard and pickguard which the ETG-150 had. The small headstock has a pearl script Gibson logo and the tuning pegs are early Kluson openback single-unit machines instead of the banjo tuners used on earlier Gibson tenors. The smaller adjustable wooden 4-string bridge and trapeze tailpiece are the same for both models, but this tailpiece lacks the integral jack in the baseplate that was a clever if sometimes awkward feature of the purpose-built electrics.
The pickup is the 4-string model of the famous original "Charlie Christian" bar magnet unit featuring a triple-bound coil edge and staggered blade pieces under the strings. It mounts with three large screws through the top securing the long bar magnets which reach almost to the bridge. The large-can pots and wiring are from the same period. We can't say if this assembly was purchased loose from a Gibson dealer or removed from an ETG-150 tenor guitar or an EM-150 mandolin, but it dates to the same year as the guitar as do the "radio" style knobs. The pickup rout in the top is not as neat as factory work but not too badly done; the mounting screws are factory style but the rear one has a rubber grommet around it rather than a metal washer.
Whatever its history this "ersatz" ETG-150 is a great playing and sounding instrument. Many early electrics from Gibson's competitors in the 1930s have a rather mongrel look; while not a fancy guitar, this TG-50 electric has a beautifully understated elegance. The 6-string ES-150 remains indelibly associated with Charlie Christian; the 4-string variant was most famously used by Tiny Grimes, his contemporary and acolyte in the Harlem jazz scene. Grimes played a 1940 ETG-150 to great effect on many discs of the time. This guitar has that same feel, look and powerful sound, we think it's one of the coolest electric 4-strings we have seen.
Overall length is 38 5/8 in. (98.1 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 22 3/4 in. (578 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/4 in. (32 mm.).
Overall this is a fine playing guitar, showing some typical wear and tear but with no major repair except of course the ancient alteration to electric. These is some general wear to the all-original finish, mostly dings, dents and scrapes overall most notable on the top. There is none of the strum wear to the top or finger wear around the tone and volume knobs that is oddly common on these earliest Gibson electrics. The back of the neck has some finish worn through on the spine and edges from play.
There is an old sealed spruce grain crack repair above the back end of the bass side f-hole that is fairly visible, and another just off the bass side of the fingerboard extension running down to the pickup rout. No other cracks or repairs are visible. The hardware including the period "Charlie Christian" pickup, "radio" style knobs, Kluson tuners, smaller adjustable wooden 4-string bridge and unbound tortoise celluloid pickguard all appear to have been on the guitar since 1940; the pickguard bracket looks later.
The original frets have been crowned down but still play well; the Charlie Christian bar magnet pickup is somewhat noisy (they all are) but has a truly rip-roaring tone. This is a likely genuinely unique instrument, a really fine period electric tenor complete with the original tweed Gibson HSC in moderately worn but fully functional condition. Overall Very Good + Condition.
